


Penpals

by melpos



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, but shh just go with it, i'm like 99 percent sure that's not actually true, nitori is in a foreign language class
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 17:52:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2159700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melpos/pseuds/melpos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nitori gets a penpal from his English class that, Momo thinks, is taking up too much of his senpai's time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Penpals

Momo was actually trying to study. 

If anyone asked him, he would say that he wanted to obtain better studying habits. If anyone asked _Rin,_ he would say that Momo's grades were slipping and his spot on the swim team was in jeopardy. 

Momo was about to groan and whine when he heard giggling coming from below at his spot on his top bunk. He sat up and looked down. Nitori was sitting at his desk, typing away at his laptop, as his body shook with muffled laughs.

Momo's interest was piqued. What could make Nitori laugh so much when they were supposed to be studying? 

He quietly crept down from the top bunk and tip-toed to where Nitori was sitting. Surprisingly, Nitori didn't notice. He peeked over Nitori's shoulder to see what he was looking at and said, "What'cha got there, Senpai?" 

Nitori jumped, unconsciously throwing his hands up to cover the screen as his neck whipped around. "Nothing! Just some work."

Momo's head tilted in interest. "You have work that makes you laugh? Can I see?" 

Nitori shook his head and spluttered, trying to come up with words to say. He found none and sighed, resorting to telling the truth. "I'm talking to a friend." 

"Friend? Who is it?" Momo inched closer, trying to get a look at the covered screen. 

"Uh... You don't know them." 

"Maybe I do." 

"They're... They don't live in Japan." 

Momo blinked. "Oh. Well where do they live?"

Nitori hesitated. “Another country?” His voice raised toward the end of his sentence, causing it to become a question. 

“What country?” 

Nitori’s hands remained on the screen as his eyes darted around. “Uh… England.” 

Momo jumped in excitement. “Wow! Can I talk to them?” 

Nitori shook his head. “It’s for my English class, Momo. This is work. Homework.” 

Momo pouted. “You get to _talk_ to someone as your homework?”

Nitori nodded. “It’s not that easy. I’m still learning English so I have to look up a lot of words.” 

Momo crossed his arms, looking at Nitori knowingly. “Can’t you just use an online translator?” he asked. 

Nitori laughed nervously. He removed his hands from the screen and Momo continued. 

“So what are you two talking about? Are they a girl or boy? Oh, if they’re a girl, are they cute? English people can be cute, right?” 

Nitori blinked, his expression deadpan. He didn’t even know if he should answer that last question. He decided to shrug and turn back to his computer instead. He didn’t feel like answering anymore of Momo's silly questions. He could only take so many in one day. When he felt Momo lurking behind his shoulder, he sighed and opted saying, “Go back to studying, Momo.” 

Momo groaned and threw Nitori a reluctant, “Fine,” before climbing the ladder up to his bed. 

He was three minutes into studying when he heard more giggling. His face contorted into an expression of annoyance and he whipped his head to glare at Nitori’s backside. “Nitori-senpai.” 

Nitori let out a noise of surprise and jumped. He turned to look at Momo's expression and withered in guilt. He smiled slightly, guiltily. “Sorry, Momo,” he said. “I’ll try to stay quieter.”

Momo sighed in relief. “Thank you.” 

This continued for weeks. Momo would study, or _try_ to, and Nitori would talk with his friend from England. Momo still didn’t know if it was a girl. 

“Can you at least tell me something about them?" Momo tried one night. "I don't even know if they're human!" 

Nitori let out a breathy laugh. His mood was too happy to be soiled by Momo's childish bickering. He unconsciously chose to ignore the question. Momo grew frustrated. 

As more days passed and Nitori's giggling continued at many parts of the day, so did Momo's bitterness increase. 

He wanted to show his senpai a new stag beetle he had caught, but Nitori shamelessly waved him off as he continued to type away on his keyboard, eyes never leaving the screen. 

When Momo brought in a really good test grade to gloat and show off to Nitori, Nitori turned and gave him a bright smile. He said, "That's great, Momo!" before turning back to his laptop and typing away. Momo pouted angrily. 

What could be so interesting about this one person that Nitori could spend hours on end talking to them non-stop for weeks about whatever it was they talked about? Momo didn't understand. He decided to resort to getting help from someone. 

He stomped out of the room and rolled his eyes when Nitori didn't even flinch or turn around. He closed the door behind him and went to knock on Rin's and Sousuke's door. 

Rin answered it, rubbing at his eye as he looked down to meet the fiery eyes of Momo. He blinked in surprise and wordlessly let him in. When he shut the door behind him, Momo exploded. 

"I can't _believe_ Nitori-senpai! The nerve of him!"

Rin let out a small, "Hm?" and Momo continued. 

"He-He's all giddy about some person he's never even met, and they talk all hours of the day, from Nitori-senpai's phone, laptop–they probably send each other letters! Who does that anymore? Probably Nitori-senpai and his little buddy that he has. Who knows, it's probably his girlfriend," Momo huffed, beginning to lose his breath. He crossed his arms over his chest and his shoulders heaved with every breath he took. 

Rin and Sousuke glanced at each other soundlessly. Their eyes were heavy with concern and amusement. 

"Well?" Momo asked after a beat. "How do we get rid of this freak-friend of Nitori-senpai?" 

"Uh," started Rin. "Momo..."

"Nitori-senpai probably doesn't even know I'm not in there anymore," Momo continued as he threw his hands up in the air. "I could switch rooms and he wouldn't notice! Dumb senpai..." Momo crossed his arms again as he stood in the middle of the room, glaring at the floor. Sousuke was sitting in a swiveling chair as he slowly rocked back and forth on it. Rin was leaning his arms back on the bottom bunk. 

Rin pushed up off of his arms and sat up to lean his elbows on his knees. He blandly stared at Momo, waiting for more words to spew out. None came. 

"Are you done?" Rin asked cautiously, waiting for confirmation. 

"Yeah," Momo grumbled. "It's not like it'll make much of a difference." 

Rin pressed at his chin with his fingers thoughtfully. "It helps us right now to figure this out." Sousuke nodded slightly, and Rin continued. "I know about Nitori's friend. He told me about the whole friend-exchange program for his English class."

Momo nodded. "He told me too." 

"He may be going the extra mile with it," Rin mused, and Momo nodded vigorously, "but that doesn't mean you have to be jealous." 

Momo scoffed. "Ha! Jealous. Good one."

Silence erupted in the room as the two third-years stared at the first-year. Rin's eyebrows raised in disbelief. 

Momo let the silence stretch on until he couldn't take it anymore. "Okay! So maybe I am a _little_ bit _uncomfortable_ with the fact that Nitori-senpai pays no attention to me anymore and practically ignores me all the time. But who wouldn't be! Nitori-senpai and I would talk at least _sometimes._ Now it's never." His eyes went downcast and he let out a small sigh. 

Rin's concern for the first-year grew. He seemed genuinely shaken up by the entire situation. There wasn't much he could do in terms of helping, but he tried his best. 

He patted Momo's shoulder after standing up and offered a small, supportive smile. Momo deflated at the face Rin was making and how out of place it seemed. 

"We'll figure something out," Rin said with an air of finality. 

Momo nodded, somewhat reluctantly, and thanked the two third-years before dragging himself out of the room. He heaved his body back to his room, climbed the ladder of his bunk, and plopped down onto it. He didn't bother to look at what Nitori was doing because he didn't have to. It was the same as usual. Momo forced himself to sleep. 

\-----

Momo had a plan. 

He had a plan to win Nitori's attention back. Of course, what better way to do that than fighting fire with fire? 

After a joint practice with Iwatobi, he had met Nagisa, a short second-year that was as devious, if not more, as him. Momo talked with him and he learned that Nagisa was willing to go through with a plan he had thought up the day before their practice together. 

As he walked toward his dorm room, he dialed Nagisa's number. It rang once before he heard noise from the other end. Nagisa greeted him and asked, "Ready?"

"Yeah. I'm walking to the room right now," Momo said as his steps grew just slightly heavier. He felt funny and nervous. He took a deep breath and let out a loud, throaty laugh as he opened the door to his room. Nitori turned around right away, head tilted and eyes alight with curiosity. 

"You're so funny!" Momo yelled into the phone through his laughter. He heard Nagisa laugh loudly on the other end and saw Nitori react from the corner of his eye. Nitori had twitched slightly from the noise erupting from the phone. 

He looked directly at Nitori for a brief moment before climbing the ladder up to his bunk bed and tossing himself across his unmade bed. 

He kept a steady conversation with Nagisa until bedtime. When he heard shuffling from below and saw Nitori moving to turn the light off, he decided to say goodbye to Nagisa. 

"I should probably go," Momo sighed longingly. "It was nice to have such a long conversation with a great person like you." Nitori shifted below him as he settled down in his bed. "I'll call you later, yeah?" 

"Yeah, Momo-chan! This was fun. Bye!" 

Momo said his farewell and hung up. He let out a long, content sigh, hoping that it would reach Nitori and pull some sort of rise out of the boy who was more than patient most of the time. 

He leaned back on his arms and smiled at the ceiling. Moments later, he heard Nitori clear his throat. 

"Who was that?" Nitori asked hesitantly. He heard his senpai shift around for the umpteenpth time. 

Momo sighed again, acting distant toward Nitori, but a grin was plastered on his mouth. He had gotten to Nitori. 

"Just a friend that I met." 

"Oh..." he heard Nitori murmur quietly. "Okay." 

"Yeah," Momo breathed. "I've never met someone I could have such a long conversation with. Like, there's a connection. It's so nice to have friends like that, don't you think?" 

"Yeah," Nitori almost whispered, sounding very distant and troubled. 

"Well," Momo started, settling into his bed under the covers. "Goodnight, senpai."

Nitori said his goodnight quietly. 

\-----

It was two days later. The long week had come to an end, and Friday nights were open to the swimmers on the Samezuka team to do as they please. Momo was planning on playing his hand-held console until he could find something better to do. 

That better something came from a certain gray-haired senpai. 

Nitori had walked in, hair wet, indicating he had just showered. Momo looked up and noticed no sign of a technological device that Nitori would use to talk to his friend. His body swelled with triumph and he returned to his game. 

Nitori crossed the room to his bed and sat down, staring at Momo, who was sitting in the desk's chair. He hesitated once before speaking up. 

"Momo, are you busy tonight?"

Momo wanted to jump for joy and tell his senpai that no, he wasn't busy and would love to take time out of his life to spend with Nitori, but Nitori hadn't even _mentioned_ anything about passing time with Momo, so he nonchalantly shook his head and kept his eyes on his game. 

"I was wondering if you wanted to maybe go get something to eat?" Nitori inquired nervously. 

"Mm," Momo hummed, still not looking up from his game. He was in the process of saving it. When he did and it was all turned off and closed shut, Momo hopped up. "Sure! What are we going to eat?" 

Nitori shrugged. "Whatever you want, I guess." 

Momo latched onto Nitori's wrist excitedly. "Let's order pizza! We can go pick it up." 

Nitori agreed with a small smile. "Okay, Momo." 

After they ordered the pizza and began walking towards the pizzeria, silence erupted. Momo's hands were shoved into his large sweatshirt pocket and Nitori fisted his arms at his sides loosely. 

"Momo," Nitori started, voice shaking with worry. "I'm sorry." 

"For what?" Momo had an idea of what, but he wanted to hear Nitori say it himself. 

Nitori rubbed at his arm. "For... ignoring you so much. I got so wrapped up in my friend that I neglected the ones I had around me." 

Momo let out a quiet laugh, feeling relieved instead of proud of himself, for some reason. "It's okay, Senpai. I forgive you." He felt brave and tentatively wrapped a big arm around his small senpai, and was thankful when Nitori didn't pull back. Momo let go quickly, nervous of what would have happened if he held on for longer. 

The silence stretched comfortably, and when they neared the pizzeria, Momo scratched at his neck sheepishly. "I have to admit," Momo grinned, bashfully, "I tried to get your attention with that phone call I made a few days ago." 

Nitori craned his neck to look at him in surprise. "You mean...?"

Momo nodded with a shrug. "That was Hazuki Nagisa from Iwatobi. He helped me set it up to get your attention." 

Nitori let out a small noise of startled shock. He wasn't expecting that. He found it... endearing in a way, though. 

They reached the pizzeria and Momo held the door open for Nitori. When they walked in, Nitori said with a soft smile, "Thanks for caring, Momo." 

Momo stopped in his stride as red dusted his cheeks. Nitori walked ahead and asked a worker if their order was ready, which was when Momo came back to his senses and followed Nitori to where he stood. They waited a few minutes. 

"I haven't had pizza in a long time," Nitori mused, trying to remember when the last time he had any was. 

Momo gasped dramatically, bringing a hand up to his chest and grabbing at it. "How did you survive!"

Nitori laughed. He raised a pointed finger sagely, playing along. "It takes years of training to become a pizza master." 

Momo was amused at Nitori's playfulness. He felt the sudden urge to wrap Nitori in his arms and spin him around. 

He decided not to though, because doing that is _weird,_ he concluded, _weird_ and probably not something he should be thinking about doing in the first place. 

The pizza was finally ready and Momo and Nitori split the cost. When they walked back and reached their room, Momo felt content. 

Then, Nitori's phone went off. He scowled as Nitori pulled it out of his pocket and checked it, and a smile graced his lips. 

"That your friend?" Momo snapped. Nitori looked up. He shook his head. 

"Rin-senpai. He sent a picture of Sousuke sleeping. He wrote on his forehead, too." Nitori let a giggle escape, looking down at the photo once again. 

Momo shrunk guiltily. He snapped at his senpai for no reason. Nitori seemed unaffected, so he chose to brush it off, instead asking, "Can I see?" 

Nitori turned the phone towards him and a loud laugh burst out of him. Nitori smiled at his reaction.

After Momo wiped away his tears of mirth, he looked at his senpai happily. 

_I think I want to kiss you,_ he thought. 

"What?" Nitori stuttered, wide-eyed. Momo covered his mouth. Had he said that outloud? His life was over, probably. 

"I, um," he started, reaching for words that he couldn't find. "I didn't mean–" 

Nitori shook his head, hair covering his eyes. A blush was scattered across his cheeks. Momo's mouth was open in a small circle as his eyebrows furrowed in concern. 

"Senpai?" he tried. Nothing. He was about to place his hand on Nitori's shoulder and try to shake him when the second-year spoke up. 

"Do you really mean that?" Nitori's head came up and his eyes emerged from the shadow of his bangs. 

Momo blinked, surprised at the sudden question. He looked into Nitori's eyes to find a storm of emotion, a storm he liked to look at. "Yes," he confirmed with a gentle nod. He kept his eyes locked with Nitori's. 

"Then... Then do it." Momo noticed that it took a lot for Nitori to speak those words and he didn't want that bold effort to go to waste. His senpai wouldn't be commanding him to kiss him everyday, after all. 

So he did exactly as he was told.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! i would love to know what you think, if you want to talk to me at m-elpos.tumblr.com or comment below. c:


End file.
